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People talk about how to motivate your successline. No one motivates anyone for more than a very short time. Motivation has to come from within. You can set an example. You can encourage people to read about and listen to people who have accomplished a lot or accomplished things that no one would expect that they could have. You can put a person in a position where they are exposed to motivating ideas. It is like leading a horse to water, you can expose them, but you cannot motivate them.
You can, however, help someone realize that things that they did not know were within their reach are reachable. You can let them know that you will assist them to find the tools they need to reach their goals. You can help them decide on goals. You can talk in a positive way and teach them to do the same. You can cheer them on. Eric Lofholm talks to us about creating a space for a goal. Before he began talking about creating spaces, I didn’t even realize that such a thing was possible. Many of those we work with also do not realize what is possible. We can help them realize that.
But, if someone is not motivated and has no real desire to become motivated, WALK AWAY. We cannot help everyone. This is exemplified by the expression: “Some will, some won’t, so what?”. It is also said: “You may as well try to motivate a tree.” So we go out there day by day with a great gift to offer to those who wish to receive it.

We find most of our customers and orders by following up with people. You give someone a book. You never contact them again, they forget about you. You give them a book, later you make contact to see if they have any questions. You give them another book. Ask again. Sooner or later they will realize that you are there. You are going to be there, and you care. But, DON’T be a pain!
So what is the difference between good followup and being a pain? For one, have a smile on your face and in your voice. Get permission to follow up. Follow up at a time and place that is convenient for the customer. Listen to them. Pay attention to their concerns. If you don’t know the answer to a question, no problem. “I understand what you wish to know, and that is a good question. I will be very happy to find out for you.” You are there to help that person, Not be a pain.
I was in a convenience store one time bringing books to the clerk. Another person walked in. I immediately backed away as I did not wish to interfere with her conducting the business of the store. Her response? Oh, don’t worry about him, he is just a salesman. Well, what did she think I was? Difference was she was interested in what I was selling, not what he was selling. He was a pain. I was not.

Being teachable. Being willing to listen. To what? Plenty of people will tell us what to do. How do we decide who to listen to. What we have been doing seems to work. Why change? Mentors will always be around. Which ones should I follow?
As technology changes, we also need to change. Some of us will follow each new method and become experts. Some of us will watch those who change and still do what is comfortable for us. Following every tangent would take too much time and energy away from building my businesses. We look for business builders to work with us, each one with his or her own talents. I prefer having people with talents in areas that I lack do that part of the business for me.
We are looking for leverage, the ability to have an hour of our time be worth more than an hour. As Eric Lofholm says, he can go into his recording room to make a disk. He might spend 10 hours making that disk. He reproduces it and sells or gives it away. It is listened to over 30,000 times. The disk is one hour long. He spent 10 hours making a disk that is only 1 hour long so he lost 9 hours, right? Nope. It was listened to for over 30,000 hours. He turned 10 hours into over 30,000 hours. IF that disk teaches those people and they teach others, how many hours has that 10 turned into? This is leverage. We find leverage by making disks that others listen to. We find leverage through other people spreading our message. We find leverage with blog posts that are read by many over the years.
Eric Lofholm is one of my mentors. I have spent over 200 hours listening to his teachings. He teaches us to have systems made up of tactics. Leverage is a tactics. Finding others to do things that we don’t know how to do, or don’t do well is a tactic. Being teachable is a basic attitude. It comes before all of the other systems and tactics because if we don’t pay attention to what works for others we cannot build our businesses.

Referrals are the lifeblood of many businesses. A referral is worth many times the value of a cold call. So we are all overloaded with referrals, right? Maybe. Maybe not. Ok, what can we do to encourage people to give us referrals?

First thing we can do is ask. Ask everyone you do business with. Every time. For example: you are at a restaurant and have been served by a nice waitress or waiter. Tell her you really appreciate the good service she (or he) gave you. Ask if she knows anyone else who gives as good service who might be looking for some extra income. Give her a good tip. You are at the hospital, again you receive good service. Again you ask. A cab driver certainly would know people who might want to either receive your service or wish to provide it. Ask.

In your travels, you meet other people who might need the services of the people you interact with. Someone looking for a good restaurant could be sent to that nice waitress or waiter. Someone needing a cab might be sent to the cab company or the actual cabby you talked with. You are looking for referrals, give referrals.

Be the type of person that others wish to refer people to. Be kind, give good service. Be polite. Be knowledgeable. Be easy to deal with. Do what you say you will do. Go the extra mile. Help that client find a home for those 11 puppies when the dog she thought was a boy gives birth. (It happened, my district manager took one of them). So if you want referrals, ask for them and provide the type of service that encourages people to refer people to you.

Is online marketing the only way. Nope. The other ways still work, in some cases better than they used to. Direct mail, print advertising, door to door (where it is still allowed), radio, we can’t forget TV, word of mouth, phone calling both warm and cold, texting, faxing, and referrals. I will deal with each of these from time to time, and perhaps others that I have not mentioned.
Online marketing, needs to be in the mix for most businesses. Not all as some would have you believe. Again, the internet is simply a medium, the types of marketing still vary. Pay per click, ad words, blogs, facebook paid advertising, online magazines, e-mail, pop ups, organic searches, twitter, linked in, tumbler, google+, and again, many that I have not mentioned.
So, you decide to go online to market. If you are older and have not used the internet in your worklife, you might be wondering where and how to start. Plenty of people and websites will proudly proclaim they are THE way to go. Buy their product and all your problems are solved. Great, but over 1000 different sites will tell you that. And you have to decide which ones are worth your time and money. Or you could go old school (if old school is even possible online) and learn by trial and error what will work. And what won’t. No matter what you do, it will take learning. Even if you pay someone else to do all of it for you, you still have to figure out who to pay because again, there are thousands who would be glad to do it for you.
And I am going to give you all the answers? Nope! I am going very old school and learning by trial, error, practice, persistence, and patience what will and will not work. I hope you enjoy my journey.

Today is father’s day and many people are watching baseball. One of the highest successes you can have in baseball is to hit a grand slam. It does happen that some players hit a grand slam their first at bat. But even then, many years of preparation went into that hit. It didn’t just happen.
I just read a story in Chicken Soup for the Soul (http://www.chickensoup.com/newsletter/45600/okay-fine-my-father-was-right&utm_source=CSS_Email&utm_medium=Bulletin&utm_term=$DATEADDED/NA$&utm_content=$MISC1/NA$&utm_campaign=daily) about a young man who grew up in privilege due to the hard work of his father. He expected everything to be given to him. To hit the grand slam without the years of preparation. It didn’t happen. It will never happen. Overnight success is preceded with many years of work to build up to that point.
People do not usually recognize that work. You know you have worked hard. Others seldom realize it. To succeed, we have to put in the ground work. Do the studying, learn about our product or service, make the calls, keep at it. Appreciate it when you see someone get the grand slam in their business, but do not be jealous. As is said in our company: those who do, get! Plod along day after day. Enjoy it. This is what will build your success. When you have achieved it, many will look on not realizing how much work you have put into it. But you know. And so do others who are also working along their pathway.

An attitude adjustment we need to make is to realize that it isn’t about me. It isn’t about me in a lot of ways. When I was taking a new recruit door to door in a trailer park in Brunswick, a lady opened the door, took the book, then threw it in the girl’s face. This is the ONLY time that this has happened. It was not about me. It was not about the girl who got the book thrown at her. It was not even about the product that we were selling. It might not have even been about the fact that we were going door to door. We have no way of knowing. Might have been a bad day. Might have been anything. But, whatever it was, it had to do only with the lady who threw the book. It was not about us.
When we are talking to a prospect or a customer, it is not about us. It is about the customer or prospect. It is ALWAYS about the other person. Always. It might be a great time. It might not be a good time at all. If we can, we should try to find out how that person is feeling. Are they interested? Are they perhaps interested, but right now is not a good time. Are they only slightly interested? Do they perhaps feel as one lady put it to me, “You are wasting your time and mine!”. It was not about me. And I did not waste any more of her time. Ever.
It is so tempting to start telling the other person how wonderful the products are, or how wonderful you are. How well you are doing. Hey, I am happy you are doing great. And I am happy the products are fabulous. Fine. But, find out if I need your product. I am not interested in why you think I need your product, I am interested in deciding myself that I want and can use your product.
So, be friendly, put your best foot forward, in the door if you want. But, always remember, it is about the customer or prospect. It is not about you. If you do, you will have more customers and prospects.